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Wonder is one of the arts of reverence. It is always very close to the surface, just behind the eye, below the tongue, in between the beats of a waiting heart. It’s a subtle resource that requires our welcome to show its full strength.
To Cultivate Wonder
As a teacher, parent, partner, friend, even as a stranger meeting other strangers, our noble charge when meeting another is to cultivate wonder.
We have only a few seconds to love the wonder out in the open or those we meet will swallow it. Seconds to warm the wonder into the air where it will merge with the living Universe it comes from to reveal the kinship of things. Seconds to let this timeless resource come into our knowing so it can save us from the brutality of surface living.
If, out of insecurity or pride or an effort to achieve prominence, we assert our own authority, the wonder will go into hiding like a wounded animal. The living authority of being that resides in all of us needs to be affirmed, not asserted. Only safety, honesty, and welcome—the servants of encouragement—can create a hothouse for the soul. And then in a flash of Spirit, the wonder, like a common, irreplaceable flower, will make blossoms of us all.
A Question to Walk With: When are you most open to wonder? In what environment does wonder grow out of you?
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